The story of Patience, a severely disabled young woman, and her family's decision to enter her into a pioneering but risky gene therapy trial.


Booksellers Association Book of the Month
A LoveReading Debut of the Month and Book Club Recommendation

A new high-risk treatment gives you the chance to cure your child's disease. Do you take it? The Willows have been through a lot. Louise has devoted her life to caring for her disabled youngest daughter. Pete works abroad, almost never seeing his loved ones. And their eldest, Eliza, is burdened by all the secrets she's trying to keep from her overloaded family.

Meanwhile, Patience observes the world while trapped in her own body. She laughs, she cries, she has opinions and knows what she wants. But those who love her most – and make every decision about her life – will never know.

Or will they? When the Willows are offered the opportunity for Patience to take part in a new gene therapy trial to cure her Rett syndrome, they face an impossible dilemma. Are the very real risks worth the chance of the reward, no matter how small?